


Don't Waste Your Chance

by Shamen610



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED ENDGAME, Fix-It, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Spoilers, endgame spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-09 15:13:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18640660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shamen610/pseuds/Shamen610
Summary: WARNING. SPOILERS FOR ENDGAME. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED.Steve has to go back in time to return the infinity stones, but that doesn’t mean he can’t impart a bit of advice to his past self.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING. SPOILERS FOR ENDGAME. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED.

He had just finished returning three of the infinity stones to their correct timelines, leaving only the mind and space stones. He appeared in the alley in New York at the exact moment Scott had left the timeline with the mind stone. 

Time Travel was tricky, but as Bruce had explained to him after his discussion with the Ancient One, he had to make sure that the stones did not leave the timeline for more than a split second. He had already returned the time stone to the Ancient One at the exact moment Bruce had left with it, but had to re-time his return of the mind stone to the moment Scott had left. 

The time stone was easy: he simply had to return it to the Ancient One, but the mind stone posed more of a challenge. He couldn’t return it back to SHIELD in good conscience knowing that he they'd been infiltrated by Hydra. The stone would end up back in the hands of Wolfgang von Strucker, and despite knowing that they would eventually end up retrieving it, there was still a whole lot of bad that could be prevented by not turning it over. 

This reality had already changed, the whole mess with Loki escaping with the tesseract ensured that. So what was there to stop him from changing it a little for the better? 

His mind made up he thought of the one person he now knew for a fact would always do what was best for the universe. No matter the cost. 

_Whatever it takes_.

God. _Tony_. He just- he couldn’t think about that right now. He had a job to do and the rest would be dealt with when the job was done. 

. . . 

Steve and the team were sitting in the aftermath of the fight between Loki and the Hulk. They had quickly regrouped after all the disasters that had happened shortly after Stark’s mini heart attack. The Tesseract was gone. Again. They had finally beaten Loki and an entire fleet of intergalactic space aliens, only to have been bested by a few cheap magic tricks and an off hand comment about Bucky. 

Steve should have known better than to believe anything Loki had to say, but the comment had come out of nowhere and had completely thrown him for a loop. Loki had said Bucky and it was like Steve was that little kid from Brooklyn again. 

Now they were sans Tesseract and Loki’s Sceptre, with no clue as to what to do.  
“You sure you all right now Stark? It sounded pretty bad there for a while.” Steve said aloud to Stark where he sat on a stool nursing a scotch. 

“Ya Cap, it was a minor malfunction. Damn son of a bitch messed with my arc reactor.” Stark took a swig from his glass, frustration evident as he palmed his chest and continued, “I don’t know how- yet, but it looks like it was diversion tactic for Loki to get the Tesseract.” 

“My brother is a gifted sorcerer yes, but master of midgardian technology is not one of his many talents, he must of had help.” Thor added.

“Well, considering how he's capable of making anyone his personal flying monkey, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were still a couple of people under his control from the sceptre.” Clint piped up from his spot, casually upkeeping his bow with a concentrated focus. Steve could tell the thought of people being out there still under Loki’s control was not a comforting notion to the man. 

“Surveillance did reveal an unauthorized man in standard SHIELD uniform at the scene.” Natasha confirmed for them. 

It was then that Steve heard the doors to the elevator opening and sprung to his feet in anticipation with the team right behind him. 

The doors opened revealing himself; clearly Loki was not yet done pretending to be him.

“Stop right where you are Loki.” Steve warned him, and to his surprise he stopped. 

“My name is Steve Rogers, and I’m from the future.” Steve blinked. Well that was not what he was expecting.

“Stop these tricks Loki, change back at once or by Odin’s beard I shall make you!” Thor shouted, and Steve had to work quickly, holding on to Thor to prevent him from pulverizing Loki before they had had a chance to get the information they needed from him.

Natasha had then stepped up, walked past them and up to Loki. “What do you mean you’re from the future.”

“Just that. I’m not Loki and I don’t have the luxury to sit down and explain it to you so,” he paused before he extended his hand and to everyone’s surprise and Thor’s astonishment, Mjolnir flied out of Thor’s hand and into Loki- no Steve’s outstretched one, “you best believe me.”

“Wow okay, so you can control Thor’s Hammer, that’s pretty impressive there Houdini, but how does that prove we should trust you.” Stark walks up from behind them and Steve- Future Steve’s whole body visibly tensed before going slack. 

“ _Tony_.” He said, and wow Steve never thought his voice could ever sound so raw. 

Stark himself also seemed to been taken aback by this, as he halted and blinked back at Future Steve. 

“Only those that are worthy can wield Mjolnir, so what this man is saying must be true.” 

“I’m sorry, but I’ve had Loki in my mind for the better half of this whole damn thing, so I’m gonna need a little more than this guy being able to control some special hammer.”

The words seemed to bring Stark out if his slight stupor and back into the conversation. 

“Ya, I’m gonna have to agree with Legolas over there, so you got anything else for us fake Cap?” He turned back to face Future Steve, quirking a brow to urge a response to his words.

But then in perhaps an even more of a surprise than Future Steve wielding the Hammer, he said “God Tony, I just-” before he grabbed and pulled Stark into a hug all while he then proceeded to cry into his neck. 

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...uh, ya that’s way to weird for Loki to pull off, I think I’ll go with believing this guy now.” Clint said,, and Steve found himself inclined to agree.


	2. Chapter 2

After Steve- Future Steve? Well, after he calmed down he had then ironically sat down and proceeded to explain to Tony and the rest of the team their supposed future.

To say that Tony was shocked, was an understatement. He couldn't believe all of what would happen to him and the rest of the world.

Half the population. _Gone_. And the Avengers powerless to stop it.

The fact wasn’t lost on him that they would be defeated by the very same army Tony had just seen, when he had done the sacrificial play by going through the wormhole. And wasn't that the kicker! Apparently he had developed a taste for being the one to make the sacrifice play. _’Ha, take that Steve! Er, present Steve. My Steve? Uh no. Whatever.’_

The point was, that despite the battle they had just won, Tony was well aware they would still have to face a greater foe from up there. It was disappointing to learn that he had been unable to prepare for it regardless.

He would just have to make sure that he didn't fail this time around.

Easier said than done though.

"So let me get this straight. You're saying there's this Thermos dude who comes in and wipes half the universe, and then five years later, Tony invents time travel so that we can find some magical stones, kick his ass, and get everyone back?" Clint said after the few seconds of stretched silence that occurred when Future Steve was done.

"Thanos.” Steve corrected. “And yes. An overly simple way of putting it, but essentially yes."

"These infinity stones, that's why you came here for the Tesseract and Sceptre." Nat stated, while shooting Future Steve a look for confirmation.

"Well only the sceptre really, your Loki actually did escape with the Tesseract. So Tony and I-" And damn if the way Future Steve said his name didn't speak to level of closeness they had clearly managed to achieve. "-had to go back to the 1970s to get the Tesseract there."

Future Steve got up then, "Speaking of, I still have to head back there to return it."

"You're not leaving yet are you?" Tony also got up in alarm. "We still haven't come up with a contingency for if or when this Thanos guy comes here."

Bruce finally spoke up then, "Were a little in over our heads here Cap, so frankly a bit of help would be appreciated." His face betrayed the nerves he was clearly feeling at the thought of figuring it out themselves.

"Look, there isn't much I can do to help you out here. I've already given you the Sceptre. and you now know about the other infinity stones a lot sooner than we did. Maybe this time around you should all listen to Tony when he says we need to prepare for the threat up there and you might just win without any losses this time around." Future Steve spoke with a set jaw and a fiercely protective look that made Tony swallow around something strange.

"Uh, not that it isn't great seeing Cap now totally living up Stark's ass, but I for on would still prefer if we had your future experience to guide us."

"I too am in accordance with the Hawk Man,-” “Dude, it’s Hawkeye.” -you must stay and assist us in this endeavour to rid the planet of this Thermos. "

"I'm going to have to agree with Clint on this one as well, having you here would help us to avoid past mistakes Captain."

"Gasp! Nat agrees with me, I want this day written down in the history books!" She whacked his head at the comment. 

"And since it's time travel there's not really a need for you to rush on back." Bruce added.

Everyone then sort of ended up looking towards Steve as the only one left who had yet to say anything and whom had had a very pinched look on his face.

The extantant looks from everyone's faces, especially Thor's (the man could rival a golden retriever for god's sake) must have weighed him down, cause after a moment, he too agreed that Future Steve should stay a while. Or at least until they had more of a solid plan figured out.

. . .

Steve couldn't fathom why he was still in 2012. He still had to return the Tesseract, and yet he was idling away his time here instead of doing his job.

Essentially it all came down to his guilt. He had told Tony that when they fought they'd fight together and he hadn't kept that promise.

He tried to push back the feeling of nausea that had slowly creeped up.

_Liar._

The words caused him to flich, as the memory flashed before his eyes. God. How could he have let down the man that had always meant so much to him.

Maybe that's why he was still here. There was still a Tony Stark in this universe and by god if he had been given a second chance to do right by him, he was going to give it his all.

Steve was brought out of his inner thoughts, when the door to the meeting room he and the rest of the team were at was opened and in walked Nick Fury and Agent Hill.

"It has come to my attention that my team has not been forthcoming about the Loki incident. Particularly concerning our certain man out of time." He looked at him then.

"Well clearly not all of us, since your here." Tony quipped, giving Nat a bit of a side eye.

Natasha seemed to not show any emotion as she calmly replied "It's my job Stark." But Steve knew that the comment had affected her.

"Yeah huh." Tony countered.

Nat seemed to bristle at the response, so Steve had cut in.

"Fury, I see that your still making sure that eye of yours sees everything. Oh and speaking of, how's Goose?"

Furry looked taken aback by Steve's comment: his brows raised high and his head tilted back in clear astoundment. 

“Ooh, who’s Goose I gotta know if it can manage to make Mr. Eyepatch here thunderstruck.” Tony perked up. 

Fury had quickly recovered after that, (preventing Steve from answering, but he had a feeling Tony would try and pry it out of him later) and proceeded to then grill him and the rest of the Team for the better half of an hour on the events that transpired in the past day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to add another chapter cause I felt guilty. But it's so shit I feel even worse for posting it. I'm having such trouble with tenses. Sigh.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm just gonna label this as complete, because I don't know if I will come back to it or just leave it open to interpretation. If anyone wants to take over they totally can. I just needed to write this bit for soothing purposes.
> 
> Also, if anyone wants to request a fic they can can do so at my tumblr https://impossibly-cold-collector.tumblr.com/  
> Shoot me an ask! I'm always eager to listen to what ppl want!


End file.
